By 1930 America was in the depths of the Great Depression. The New Deal was two years away. Beginning in 1930, The Lepp Bakery adopted a feeding program to help. Every person - man, woman or child, who got into line at the bakery at 4 p.m. were given two thick meat and cheese sandwiches for free. Hundreds of people were fed every day. Every child was also given a very big thick cookie which was bigger than your outstretched hand. They were made and handed out by my grandmother Blanche who became known as the Cookie Lady. Her eight years of living in a Houston orphanage without any treats moved her heart to help these children. Over the years several Sealy Times articles have recalled the Cookie Lady’s dedication and efforts for the children.
The food was a tremendous blessing for people riding the rails looking for work across America. The Bakery was only one block from the train station. A map to the bakery was painted on the side of the depot pointing the way. Songwriter/performer, Woody Guthrie, wrote a song about Blanche. He even sent money several times to help.
In 1933 Adolph Hitler came to power in Germany. Every German citizen was issued a race classification. Most people today don’t realize that German families that had any Jewish connection in their past were condemned. My great grandmother, Katrina, had a great Grandfather who around 1800 converted to Christianity. He was still considered a Jew by the Nazis. All of his descendants lost their German citizenship. My great grandparents, Daniel and Katrina, and my grandparents, Elmore and Blanche, were struggling to feed hundreds every day when they received a letter from Germany. It was a desperate plea from a cousin that my grandparents did not know. You see, the Nazis charged an expensive exit tax to leave Germany plus a forfeiture of all your property. The cousin asked for help for himself and his family. My grandparents’ response was to raise the money the only way they could. They mortgaged their home, their only asset. The German cousin came to Sealy penniless with a wife and two teenage sons. Of course, they went to work for a while at the bakery, living with my grandparents. By the way, the two boys fought for America in WWII, a payback to Hitler of sorts.
My grandparents lost the bakery in 1948. For the first time, Highway 90 was paved to Houston. Every day a Houston bread company delivered loaves of free bread and rolls to every house in Sealy until my grandparents were bankrupt. Elmore and Blanche then moved to Houston to find work.
Elmore and Blanche never owned a car. They never had much money. I can remember them helping college students by feeding them suppers weekly. They supported their church and contributed monthly to several orphanages across the state.
They loved people, all people; America and all its goals. Elmore was arrested several times in Houston for registering African Americas to vote. When my grandfather died in 1970, the entire town of Sealy closed for his funeral in the middle of the week. After the funeral, my father took Christy, my sister, and me on a walk to see where the bakery had been. Two elderly men were seated on a sidewalk bench. My dad asked them if this was where the bakery had been. They replied yes. Then both men voluntarily began to tell us that they would have starved as well as half of the town during the Great Depression but for the Lepps feeding everyone seven days a week. Then they remembered the Cookie Lady Blanche. The men went on and on about how much was done for them.
You see, lives well lived are well remembered.
By the way, Elmore and Blanch never thought twice about helping anyone who knocked on their door. They saw a chance to help as a blessing from God.
